Violin is the queen of the orchestra. It is very common in classical music and a few used by producers in pop music. This guide provides some tips and techniques on how to mix violin for music production. About its audio mixing techniques, there are actually two approaches. The first one assumes the use of violin in the production of classical music. The second technique is for its use in the pop music.
In this audio mixing tutorial, you will know the important parameters for properly mixing violin. These includes EQ, compression, panning and reverb. Take note that these are one-size-fit-all settings. You need to experiment and use your ears when making an adjustment.
The settings in this tutorial are only provided to get you started but these are not meant to be a permanent solution to audio mixing tasks involving violins.
Violin picture
For classical music (assuming for symphony orchestra style of music):
EQ Techniques: The effective frequency range of violin is from 196Hz to around 4000Hz. But every recording of violin can produce a specific unique frequency range that depends on the material. You can double check/confirm the effective range of the violin sound frequencies by doing a musical instrument frequency range analysis.
Since the symphony orchestra are composed of several instruments such as viola, cello, double bass, etc. Then the violin can be EQ in such a way that its most dominant frequency range will shine in the mix and not conflicting with other musical instruments. Since its low is from 196Hz and high at 4000Hz, the mid-frequency is around 2048Hz. This is often the frequency range where the sound energy of violin is often the strongest, most-dominant and common (where most classical music pieces will be situated at this range). Around this frequency range is where violin sound is very important.
The lower end range is from 196Hz to somewhere around 400Hz for violin. This is not often useful in most classical pieces. As in this frequency range, it is often played mostly by viola. Therefore this can be cut when applying EQ setting. The high end range of violin sound is around 1 KHz to 4 KHz. This is very important as the violin high pitched sound is common in most classical music pieces. Therefore the general EQ setting can be:
Increase prominence of important violin sound:
Boost +1dB to +3dB 1000Hz, Q=1.4
Boost +1dB to +3dB 3000Hz Q=1.4
Cut violin lower frequency range to avoid conflicting with viola frequency range (as well as other instruments at this range):
Cut -1dB to -4dB Low Shelf Filter at 400Hz to 500Hz
The above settings requires you to have knowledge on how to use a parametric equalizer. If you are not familiar with shelving filters, you can read this tutorial on what is a low shelf and high shelf filter in parametric equalization.
Panning techniques: The symphony orchestra is often organized such as below:
symphony orchestra organization
As you can see the violin is not in the center, but placed somewhere on the left and right. You can pan the violin as follows:
Panning settings: +50 to +85 OR -50 to -85, if your audio mixing software is not using that panning values; alternatively it just mean 50% to 85% in terms of percentage or 0.5 to 0.8 in terms of decimal. You can read this tutorial for more information about symphony orchestra panning.
Compression: Preserving the entire dynamic range is very important in classical music. Therefore, the instrument does not need any compression. Most music sheets for violin in pop or classical music do already includes dynamic markings. Example of these dynamic markings are forte (loud), pianissimo (very soft). If you will be applying compression, you can destroy or alter these dynamics.
Read this theory on dynamic range compression and audio compression tips for more information relating to audio compression.
Reverb: If violin is produced using actual sound recordings from concert hall. The recording itself captures the reverberation of the hall. So it does not anymore need reverb during mixing. But for software produced classical music; then you can apply the following reverb setting:
Length: 2500ms
Attack time: 106ms
Diffusion: 823
Perception: 16
Dry to wet: 73% to 20%
Early reflections: 25%
If the audio mixing software does not have all the parameter settings above (or any plug-in), then focus on reverb length which is important. Reverb is one of the most commonly abused effects in audio mixing. Careful about using reverb as overuse can really make your mix unpleasant to listen. Learn the fundamentals by knowing how to apply reverb to a mix properly.
For pop music (where violin is an added track)
EQ Techniques: The immediate problem of violin is that it conflicts with the vocal frequency range particularly for female soprano singers. The vocal range for this is around 500Hz to 3000Hz, similar to violin. Vocal is the most important instrument in pop music therefore it will be given emphasis in the mix. The following are the suggested EQ for violin:
Cut -3dB to -6dB 1000Hz Q=1.0
Or it depends on the vocal, if singing very high pitch vocals you can adjust the frequency from 1000Hz to 4000Hz.
For EQ settings for other instruments in your mix, you can read this tutorial on the complete EQ settings to start when doing audio mixing.
Panning techniques: Since pop music includes some guitar tracks which are panned at 75% to 90%. You can pan violin at 50% to 75%. You can as well exchange their positions at 75% to 90% for violin; experiment what sounds good for your mix.
Compression: If you have lead guitar tracks in your mix, you can apply similar compression settings. Mostly if it’s just a background and the dynamic range is OK, then it won’t need much compression.
Reverb: You can apply a much lesser reverb to violin since its pop music and not in a classical concert hall. You can start at around 500ms to 1000ms.
Feel free to experiment starting with the above suggestions and continually adjust until your mix sounds great.
Content last updated on July 13, 2012